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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25968940">Champion</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Competition, Friends to Lovers, Irony, M/M, Secret Identity, Tournaments, it's basically just mcc but in a realistic minecraft au, minecraft championship, realistic minecraft au</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 09:54:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,208</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25968940</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone in the Overworld is looking forward to this year's Minecraft Championship, where only the strongest can compete. George is just looking forward to his best friend, Clay, watching him from the stands. (And may be dreading competing against the alleged masked slayer of the Ender Dragon, Dream.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clay | Dream &amp; GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream &amp; Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), GeorgeNotFound &amp; Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>221</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Champion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first work for the fandom so hopefully everyone is in character enough! As mentioned in the tags, this is just an au of MCC in a realistic Minecraft setting. Some people in the work may have not actually played in MCC before but I wanted to keep the characters that I would write more as youtubers I know better so I can have an easier time keeping people in character (though the dteam will the main focus of the story.)</p><p>Also, if anyone written in this fic has an issue with this I'm taking this down or I'll just take them out of the story if their character is minor enough. Remember this is just their personas and is not supposed to represent how they are in their daily lives at all.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Minecraft Championship.</p><p> </p><p>The tournament with nine competitions in eleven days that occurred once every year. The tournament where only the most talented of people in the Overworld competed for eleven days for the title of “champion” and gained a prize of 10,000 gold that they split with their other three randomly assigned teammates. The tournament where almost anyone for miles around would see not only winning but just participating in the tournament to be an honor. Though as wanted as a position in the tournament could be, the spots could only be provided to 32 people total - 4 people on 8 teams - the best of the best in their abilities. Only the mightiest fighters, the wittiest thinkers, the most agile parkourers, or any other person with a talent of that like would be invited. Only people whose names were whispered in the streets by fans that watched them duel in matches across the land or watched them slay mighty monsters like the Ender Dragon could be invited. With the combination of having to be at least a little known and also being almost inhumanely talented, not many people matched the criteria of being invited to MCC.</p><p> </p><p>But George was one of them.</p><p> </p><p>It had happened on an extremely ordinary morning. George had just taken his first bite out of the slice of bread he was eating, his thoughts already wandering to the training he was going to do with his best friend, Clay, that day. The taller boy had an excellent skill with a sword, and a shield, and a bow… and pretty much any weapon you could put in his hands. It was obvious in the way that he would always beat George in duels nowadays. There may have been a time years ago when Clay had just moved to their village from the north with his mom, where George had once stood taller than Clay and Clay’s hands would awkwardly hold the hilt of a sword with unfamiliarity. But those days were long gone. Now, George found himself with his back to the ground and a wooden sword blade pointed at his neck only a few minutes into a fight against Clay. </p><p> </p><p>For all the skill that his friend had, Clay refused to enter into fighting competitions that occurred over the years in areas close to their village. It wasn’t as if there were few either, their village, as quaint as it was, laid only miles away to the south of the tournament hall where the Minecraft Championship took place. This meant everyone was on the lookout at any sort of competition in the area, and even more people were setting up competitions. George had participated in his fair share of contests over the years, doing pretty well in his opinion. But Clay had refused to participate in any, his reason being that the attention wasn’t something he wanted around him. It was a fair reason, George could see, but it was still a disappointing feeling to George that people outside of their village couldn’t see Clay’s talent.</p><p> </p><p>But even though the outside world would never get the chance to see Clay fight in all of his glory, that would never lessen the excitement George felt to train with him when the blonde man wasn’t away on one of his usual trips to the North to help his dad out with his shop. And it certainly didn’t lessen the excitement George felt that morning even when his mom rushed into the house with a scroll that looked like it could only be from royalty. </p><p> </p><p>“Goerge!” She hastily called out as she placed the scroll in front of the brunette, barely avoiding slamming it into his food. George let his eyes glance from his mom, to the scroll, back to his mom in confusion. George knew what the scroll looked like… knew what it would entail if it was real. But George also knew that the chances of it actually being the real thing were low. Only one other person in his village had gotten the scroll when George was just old enough to start losing teeth... and that had been maybe 15 years ago. Opportunities didn’t appear like that for people who lived there… yet George could possibly be presented with one like that as he sat there in bewilderment.</p><p> </p><p>Not letting his hopes get too high, George grabbed the scroll off of the table and began to unravel it. Once it was unraveled, he began to read to himself:</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Hello, George. We would like to formally invite you to participate in this year’s Minecraft Championship that will be held in three months of time, on September 5. The other contestants will be revealed at a later date, and your teammates will be randomly selected on the welcoming day before the tournament. You have the makings for a great champion, we are excited to see how you will fare this year. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Sincerely, the MCC Committee </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Short and sweet, but it truly got the message across. George felt his hands shake from either excitement or fear as his eyes brought their vision down to the seal that laid under the message. If George had any doubts about the message that was written out on ink on that scroll, the seal quieted them. There was no mistaking that it was the legitimate seal for the MCC Committee. George had actually been invited to participate in the Minecraft Championship that year.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Clay, Clay I have something to tell you!” George exclaimed excitedly as he watched the freckled man walk to the training field. Clay’s eyebrows moved up in amusement as he made his way to George.Though they were well into the summer by then, long sleeves from his pale tunic still covered Clay’s arms, George observed when the younger man was almost to George. After which trip to the north was it that Clay abandoned wearing short sleeves? The one where Clay came back to the village with a nasty bruise on the side of his face that he blamed on thugs or the one mysterious red powder wouldn't leave Clay’s singed hair for weeks?</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah? Me too actually,”  Clay replied with a crooked smile once he finally reached where George stood. “But you go first, it seems like you have something exciting to say.” George felt a smile appear on his face as he prepared himself to tell Clay the news he had learned only an hour earlier. In any other case he may have let clay share his news first… <em> may have </em>.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m going to be in Minecraft Championship this year,” he decided on saying, knowing that getting straight to the point would get the news to Clay faster. It was almost hysterical the way Clay’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped.</p><p> </p><p>“You got invited to Minecraft Championship?” Clay finally asked after barely composing himself for a moment.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes!” George replied, excitement still filling his voice. “I just got the letter this morning.” Clay’s eyes still contained the pure feeling of surprise he was feeling in them while he made his way to hug George.</p><p> </p><p>“Congrats, man,” he said, his voice going from shock to something that George couldn’t identify.</p><p> </p><p>“Thanks,” George replied, only speaking again when the two separated from the warm hug. “So, you’ll be there to see me win right?” He asked jokingly when they separated, George feeling much colder from the loss of contact. If anything could make the opportunity greater for George to participate in that year’s Minecraft Championship, it would be to have his best friend of nine years watching him fight from the audience. Though George would most likely not be able to see him at all until the end of the tournament, as participants weren’t allowed to interact with outside parties during the competition. But just knowing that Clay would be in the stands, watching George and hoping for his success, that was more than enough for George.</p><p> </p><p>“Of course, I’ll be there. Why would you have to even ask, idiot?” Clay answered, a playful smile, that warmed George right back up, making its way up on to his face. “My eyes will be on you the whole time.” George wanted to comment on how ridiculous that statement was, vaguely remembering the detail that there were various events in the tournament that would be out of the audience’s time for a period. Or on how it would be ridiculous to look at one person when 31 other equally as or even more skilled competitors would be around him. But George instead held his tongue and let himself light up inside at Clay’s comment. </p><p> </p><p>It was somewhere in the time he was relishing in the fact that Clay would be at the MCC that George remembered that Clay had something to also tell George.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh yeah, Clay. What did you need to tell me?” He asked, not expecting that shocked expression to pull on Clay’s face again. Just as fast as it appeared, though, Clay masked it over with a smile and responded.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah, nothing important now. We can talk about it later. For right now we have to talk about <em> you </em>. Minecraft Championship… who do you think you’ll have to go against?” Clay asked, a little bit of shakiness appearing in his voice that was soon replaced with anticipation. If it was anyone other than George, George suspected that they wouldn’t be able to notice. But when you’ve been friends with someone since you were 14, you tend to pick up on things that anyone else could be entirely blind to, especially if they go on mysterious trips to the “north” and show up with injuries that are explained with obvious lies. If George was even the littlest bit more bold, maybe he would’ve confronted Clay about obviously changing the subject. But instead, he let himself continue to smile and answer instead.</p><p> </p><p>“Of course Techno is going to be in the event. Did you hear about the way he fought last year?” George talked about the well-known fighter, seen as even the best fighter for his generation. Technoblade, everyone called him, though of course that was nowhere near his real name. That was a pattern for many of the skilled people who were invited to the MCC, they would never use their names. It was always a show name like Technoblade, or Dream, or Sylvee, or HBomb.</p><p> </p><p>“Well yeah, anyone could guess that. Hmm, how about that guy Dream? You think he’ll make an appearance?” Clay asked with genuine curiosity.</p><p> </p><p>Dream… the masked man who was rumored to have traveled to the End on his own and slain the Ender Dragon. Dream, the man who claimed victory after victory in tournaments up in the north. Dream, the only person seen as Techoblade’s true competition. Dream, a man who was unknown until almost just a year ago.</p><p> </p><p>“Most likely but I hope he’s not in it,” George answered, not missing the way Clay winced at that.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh that sounds meaner than I meant it to be!” George immediately followed up with, raising his palms in front of him. “If I wasn’t in the tournament I would love to see him in it, but I am. And if he isn’t on my team, it’s basically a loss right there. No matter what team he’s on, that team is basically guaranteed to win. He killed the Ender Dragon all on his own apparently. That’s enough for me to realize he’s a <em> very </em> big threat. Plus I heard the mask he wears is scary,” George explained, whispering the last sentence to himself as a thoughtful look appeared on Clay’s face.</p><p> </p><p>“I think you could beat him,” Clay simply said with a shrug that caused George to almost pop his eyes out with how much they widened.</p><p> </p><p>“Clay what? I lose to you most of the time and he’s probably like ten times your skill level… no, more! You don’t have to lie to me.” Clay shook his head at George’s response.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, but those times you get out of your own head and just let yourself fight freely without hesitation, you’ve won the battle before it’s even started.”</p><p> </p><p>George did have to agree with Clay on that one. George did find himself hesitating a lot when fighting Clay. Be it the way his freckles looked on his skin when the sun shined on him or preparing himself for the skillful fighter Clay was, George always found himself overthinking his fights with Clay. The only <em> few </em> times George ever won against Clay was when he cleared his mind and just let his body move for him. But that was <em> Clay </em> , the best fighter in a little old village. It was <em> Dream </em>, the man who could have very well slain the Ender Dragon, that George had to worry about.</p><p> </p><p>As if he could see steam coming out from George’s head from all the thinking he was doing, Clay gave George’s arm a light punch.</p><p> </p><p>“Come on, let’s train now. You have three months until you have to beat that Dream guy, right? Let’s get you trained up because it’s more likely than not, he won’t be on your team,” Clay interrupted George from his thoughts as he grabbed two training swords for the two of them. It was only a temporary distraction that the smile Clay threw at George silenced his thoughts. Later that night when he laid alone with his thoughts, George couldn’t help but worry about a certain masked man.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Dream was there. It wasn’t as if it were a grand reveal or big deal when the masked man walked past George three months later in the morning before the tournament. It was more of just an “oh” moment. A moment similar to if you picked the wrong pair of shoes for the day or grabbed the last piece of bread with all of the crust on one side. Disappointing but not detrimental. If anything, George had actually <em> expected </em>to see Dream at the welcoming day of the tournament. The welcoming day where all of the participants would show up to the tournament hall the morning of the day before the competition actually started so they could register their names and have the teams be chosen.</p><p> </p><p>The most disappointing part about it was that George had only just set foot into the glorious building maybe twenty minutes ago, taken there by a carriage that showed up at his house earlier that day. Twenty minutes was not nearly enough time to live in bliss at the fact that he was in <em> the </em> Minecraft Championship building without one of the strongest people in the world in his sights.</p><p> </p><p>And God, that mask he wore. It was almost scarier looking than the creeper that almost blew up his house a few years back. Who knew a drawn on smiley face could look so intimidating. Maybe it was the fact that the mask covered the entirety of his face so you could not even tell if the man was truly smiling or if his mouth was twisted in an ugly frown. Or maybe it was the fact that you could not tell if Dream’s eyes were laid on the person in front of him that he was talking to or if his eyes were looking at George with a side glare.</p><p> </p><p>George had a feeling that his second guess was right because the next second, Dream had fully turned to face George, catching the shorter man staring at him. Quickly trying to find an excuse, George looked around the pair, hoping he could find another person to act like he was staring at instead. Anyone other than Dream and the person with the white bandanna he was talking to. After a quick look-over, George found himself upset at preferring to hang around outside of the tournament hall near the water where not many people were. Not a single other person was in sight, making it blatantly obvious that George had been staring at the pair.</p><p> </p><p>It was when the person with the bandanna also turned to stare at him that George decided to escape while he could and turned around to make his retreat to another part of the property. Oh how he wished Clay was there right then, he would probably had known what to do in that situation. Sure Clay may have been shy at times, but he was even more clever. He would’ve found a way to avoid the awkward encounter. But Clay was probably somewhere back at the village, still packing his things to get ready to travel to the tournament hall to watch George compete the next day. For now, George was all on his own.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Did I catch your eye?” A joking and almost familiar voice made its way to George’s left ear. George hastily turned to the left, close to dropping the plate of lunch that was in his hands.</p><p> </p><p>“What?” Was all George could get out before his throat closed up. Only a few feet apart stood Dream, that creepy mask covering whatever expression he wore that was faced towards George.</p><p> </p><p>“This morning, by the water. You were just staring at me and Sapnap,” he clarified nonchalantly, the eyes of his mask staring unblinking at George. Where did Dream see through at? Through the eyes of the mask? Though George could not see any human eyes contained anywhere in those two big black spots. Did Dream see? Or was his vision just drowned in darkness, blind to the sights of the world around him?</p><p> </p><p>“You’re staring again,” Dream pointed out, disrupting George from his observations.</p><p> </p><p>“How do you see under the mask?” George asked without thinking, immediately regretting his words. Dream must’ve seen the panic that quickly made its way onto George’s face because he was soon letting out a noise that George could only assume was a laugh but sounded closer to a tea kettle.</p><p> </p><p>“Magic,” he said after his laugh died down as he wiggled his fingers in front of him. Before George could even ask what the hell that was supposed to mean, Dream was walking away from George, his piss yellow cloak that covered his hair and ran down to the back of legs flowing behind him. George couldn’t even find himself scared of the man at that moment, only confused by then. What was even the point of that conversation? George couldn’t seem to find the answer to his question even as he made his way to an empty table in the grand dining room. George had only been eating his plate of cooked mutton and a cookie before a plate was slammed down from across from him.</p><p> </p><p>“Dream’s kinda weird sometimes,” a voice commented as someone sat in front of the plate that was placed down. George looked up from his meal and at the owner of the voice who he could only assume was Sapnap judging from the white bandanna. Sapnap… George had heard that name before. Though not as well known as Dream, Sapnap was another fighter that was often spoken of by people from the north during the last year.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, he seemed kind of intimidating at first but now I’m just confused,” George mused, not voicing his confusion on why Sapnap had chosen to sit by George.</p><p> </p><p>“Heh, that’s Dream for you! Slays the Ender Dragon but he still struggles to start conversations!” Sapnap let out a hearty laugh as he made a move to take a sip of his water. George took the time to take a bite out of his mutton too, observing the dark haired man in front of him. Sapnap and Dream were close enough friends, George could deduce that by the way the two talked about each other. How long did they know each other, he wondered. Had they just started becoming friends this year, their relationship growing as their reputations in the north did. Maybe their conversations becoming more comfortable after each competition they saw each other at. Or had they had been long time friends such as Clay and himself had been. Maybe friends since birth?</p><p> </p><p>“But what I can tell you,” Sapnap continued after he gulped down some more of the water. “is that he's really just trying to become your friend.” Sapnap didn’t miss the confused look that painted itself on to George's face. Before George could even begin to try to deduce why Dream would try to become friends with him, Sapnap spoke again.</p><p> </p><p>“He says everyone looks like they’re after something with him. Trying to get on his good side or just hoping that there would be some way he could be on their team. You haven’t tried to sway the guy to your side once though. He says you seem genuine,” Sapnap leaned over the table a bit, almost as if he were telling George a secret before going to slump back when he said his next part. “I don’t know really, though. He barely knows you anymore than most of the people here. But, what do I know?” He shrugged before going to eat his food.</p><p> </p><p>“I was staring at you guys because I was scared of Dream,” George finally decided on saying. Sapnap’s eyes snapped right back up to look at George.</p><p> </p><p>“What?” He barely managed to let out before breaking into a laugh.</p><p> </p><p>“You just said that he slayed the Ender Dragon before! How could I not think he’s scary?” George defended, sending an annoyed look at Sapnap.</p><p> </p><p>“I guess. But seriously he’s not scary at all,” Sapnap said after he calmed his laughs down. “At least when he’s not fighting. When he’s fighting he’s actually pretty scary. But he won’t cut you down in the middle of the dining room,” Sapnap added as an afterthought, not making George feel any better that he did when he first saw Dream.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>It wasn’t an over exaggeration to say that George and Sapnap stuck together for the rest of the day until teams were about to be chosen. Sapnap seemed to know about as many people as George… zero, discluding Dream. And Dream had yet to approach either of them again, busy talking with other competitors that he seemed familiar with. If it weren’t for Sapnap telling him that Dream was shy, George would’ve never guessed that the man was ever nervous about talking to people. </p><p> </p><p>Throughout their time together so far, George learned that Sapnap and Dream had become friends a bit over a year ago when they were both competitors at Sapnap’s first fighting tournament. Being the curious man he was, George asked another question that had been laying in the back of his head. <em> Did Sapnap know what Dream looked like under the mask? </em> Sapnap had assured him that no, he had as much of a clue as George of what Dream’s actual face looked like. </p><p> </p><p>It wasn’t until the sun was gone and the moon was out that Dream interacted with them again. All of the competitors were gathered around outside of the entrance of the tournament hall, the last few warm breaths of wind from the end of summer blowing through George’s dark brown hair as everyone lined up to register their names so their teams could be chosen.</p><p> </p><p>“You know, you never told me the name you use for competitions and stuff, George,” Sapnap observed as the two of them stood in line. George gave Sapnap a slight smile in response.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t have one,” he said with a shrug, getting a pair of raised eyebrows from Sapnap in response. It was just in that moment that George spotted a smiley mask coming towards their direction over Sapnap’s shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>“You don’t have one? So what, you’ve just been using your real name in every competition you register in?” Sapnap questioned in bafflement.</p><p> </p><p>“He doesn’t have a what?” Dream asked. Sapnap turned around to see Dream, seemingly used to his friend sneaking behind him. </p><p> </p><p>“A name he uses for competitions. He says he just goes by George.” Sapnap tilted his head in Dream’s direction as he explained. Dream turned to face Sapnap before looking over at George.</p><p> </p><p>“That's… interesting. But it could be his gimmick, y’know? Still, I would think you’d need to come up with a name for this,” Dream commented, sparing a look to the front of the line that was getting closer and closer. “And you don’t have much time. Just think of something random? Like an animal or something, I don’t know.” It was the moment that Dream suggested for George to come up with a name, that every name he could think of left George’s head. Noticing the blank expression on his face, Sapnap gave Dream a concerned expression which George could assume Dream returned. </p><p> </p><p>It wasn’t long before the three of them were the next ones in line, Sapnap easily registering himself with an ink and quill and Dream having already registered himself a few minutes earlier. It was George who struggled the most with registering himself, every part of the form filled except what he would be called during the tournament. It was only by a miracle that George looked up, with a slightly frightful face and the concern that he'd hold the line up, towards Dream who had not yet left the line like Sapnap. The masked man grabbed the quill from George’s grasp and briskly wrote something down before quickly shoving it in the box where the rest of the names were. George turned to look at Dream about to ask what name he had written but was only met with the stoic smile that would never turn downwards.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“If I don’t have at least one of you on my team, I’m going to riot man,” Sapnap threatened jokingly as the three of them stood outside of the tournament hall. George hummed in agreement as Dream responded vocally.</p><p> </p><p>“Heh, same. Though I also really want to take down Technoblade. He beat me in a fight a couple weeks back and he won’t let me live that down.,” Dream groaned in irritation, barely giving a second thought to the fact that he implied he’d want George on his team. It should’ve been implied already with the way the three of them had been hanging out the rest of that night, but George still couldn’t help but be slightly baffled at the thought that someone like Dream would want George on his team. George, who he probably didn’t hear about all the way up there in the north. George, who had been petrified of the masked man mere hours ago. George, who was finding himself shockingly delighted at hearing just the single word “same” come out of Dream’s mouth.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, they're announcing the teams now,” Sapnap said with anticipation bleeding into his voice. George turned his attention to an announcer standing at the top of the steps leading to the entrance of the tournament hall, the box which held their names held securely. Mentally blocking out the introductions and gratitudes, George tuned back into reality somewhere in the middle of calling teams when he heard Dream’s name called.</p><p> </p><p>“Ok the next team, the Pink Parrots. This team will include Dream, Technoblade, Skeppy, and Sylvee,” the announcer announced before going to pick four more names.</p><p> </p><p>“What? No fair. You guys are just gonna beat everyone up.” Sapnap whined, earning a chuckle from Dream.</p><p> </p><p>“Nah, we’re gonna get targeted by the other team probably. But dang, there goes my shot at trying to beat Technoblade,” Dream replied, murmuring the last bit to himself.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, I better at least have George on my team. Maybe we can beat Dream if we gang up on him,” Sapnap suggested in a way that George didn’t know if it was a joke or not.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes please, I’d like to try and beat Dream, too,” George responded to Sapnap, paying mind in the back of his head to the teams still being called by the announcer.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, yeah? Well in that case I’ll have to make sure I definitely win now,” Dream retorted with a new found confidence that made George almost regret saying anything. <em> Almost </em>.</p><p> </p><p>“Now announcing the Green Guardians. This team will include Sapnap,” the announcer began causing Sapnap’s head to snap up at the mention of his name. “WilburSoot, BadBoyHalo, and GeorgeNotFound.” It was almost unnaturally fast the way Sapnap’s mouth turned up and he flashed George a big bright smile.</p><p> </p><p>“Fuck yeah!” He cheered to their group, getting a couple of heads to turn to their direction. Waiting to cheer until he was sure it was truly him and not some mysterious second person named George there, George turned his head to face Dream.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s the name you gave me?” He asked carefully. Dream scratched the back of his head, looking as embarrassed as he could under a mask that covered every part of his face that would give a hint to his expression.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah… I had to think fast because we were right there so I just thought of how we couldn’t think of a name so… ‘not found’, y’know? And then I just combined it with your actual name since you’ve been using it all this time and I got GeorgeNotFound. I’m hoping it’s at least tolerable for you for right now. You could just always change it after the tournament or-” George understood what Sapnap meant by Dream being shy at that moment. Under that confident exterior, even a man as skilled as Dream could be nervous at the opinions of others. In the end, maybe Dream was just as nervous as George about a lot of things. And it was then that George decided that if Dream could give up his confidence for a moment, George could show his. It was almost like what Clay told him when they were on the training grounds three months ago, he was strongest when he let himself stop overthinking so much.</p><p> </p><p>“I like it,” George cut off the masked man. “I like GeorgeNotFound. I’m glad you came up with it,” he continued, not missing the way Dream seemed to almost light up under his mask.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah?” He asked for confirmation.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah,” the shorter man confirmed, a smile blooming on his face before returning back to the joking banter the three of them were sharing. “Though I think I’ll like it best when they’re announcing the name as one of this year’s champions.”</p><p> </p><p>“In your dreams,” Dream scoffed before letting out another chuckle. Dream didn’t seem so scary now, George concluded as he watched how the man’s head slightly leaned back as he laughed. He seemed pretty… nice actually. If George let himself bask in the generous nature of him long enough, maybe just maybe he could pretend they were on the same team for a moment. That they would be working together to earn the title of champion. That they weren’t going to be competitors viciously competing against each other to win and the careful husk of a friendship that they had formed over the day wouldn’t be blown away the next day.</p><p> </p><p>It was nice to imagine a lot of things, George decided.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was mainly just an introduction chapter, next chapter will be the first competition. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter! :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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